Harry's Dead

When everyone thought Harry was dead, lying motionless and cold in Hagrid's arms, the world must have ended. It couldn't go on…. Not when their last hope in the world was dead.

Disclaimer: All dialogue in this chapter belongs to JK Rowling.

XX

(From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling)

Harry remained kneeling at Snape's side, simply staring down at him, until quite suddenly a high, cold voice spoke so close to them that Harry, Ron, and Hermione jumped to their feet, thinking that Voldemort had reentered the room.

Voldemort's voice reverberated from the walls and floor, and Harry realized that he was talking to Hogwarts and to all the surrounding area, that the residents of Hogsmade and all those still fighting in the castle would hear him as clearly as if he stood beside them, his breath on the back of their necks, a deathblow away.

"You have fought," said the high, cold voice, "valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery.

"Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste.

"Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat immediately.

"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.

"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

Both Ron and Hermione shook their heads frantically, looking at Harry.

"Don't listen to him," said Ron.

"It'll be all right," said Hermione wildly. "Let's—let's get back to the castle, if he's gone to the forest we'll need to think of a new plan—"

(My writing)

Ron put a hand on her shoulder, telling her to stop, and they crawled back through the tunnel together, no one saying anything.

The grounds of Hogwarts were still, as was the inside of the castle. The floors and flagstones were stained with blood, emeralds and marble littering the floor. Pictures were tilted and deserted, and most had been blown away.

"Where is everyone?" whispered Hermione.

Ron led them to the Great Hall. Harry stopped in the doorway, but Ron and Hermione proceeded to join the others.

No one seemed to take heed of what Voldemort had said; the survivors stood in groups, huddled together over the hundreds of bloody bodies that littered the floor. The injured lay upon raised platforms, being treated by Madam Pomfrey and a group of helpers.

Ron and Hermione joined in the group huddled around Fred's body; George was kneeling at his head, Mrs. Weasley lying across his chest and sobbing, and Mr. Weasley crying silently behind his wife. Hermione approached Ginny, whose face was swollen from crying, and hugged her. Ron joined Bill and Percy, who flung an arm around Ron's shoulders. Newly found bodies lay next to Fred: Remus and Tonks, peaceful and pale-looking beneath the enchanted ceiling.

No one saw Harry move away, and no one seemed to notice for a while. Everyone was still, shaking with sobs but not uttering a word. No one, not even the most stern of professors, seemed to have any logic left in them.

Hermione was the first to speak. "Where's Harry?"

It took only two words to make all of the Weasleys begin to panic. "You don't think he…he went to You-Know-Who, do you?" said Ron.

"He—he wouldn't do it…. Not without saying something first," said Ginny incredulously.

"Yeah, but the truth is, Ginny," said Bill, who was beginning to grow whiter and whiter with each word spoken, "he probably knew that we wouldn't let him."

Soon the whole Hall was in a flurry, and everyone was searching frantically for Harry, not a single word distinguishable above the uproar.

Until one voice broke through it all: the high, cold voice of Lord Voldemort, and everyone stopped in their tracks. "Harry Potter is dead. He was killed as he ran away, trying to save himself while you lay down your lives for him. We bring you his body as proof that your hero is gone.

"The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you, and the Boy Who Lived is finished. There must be no war. Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family. Come out of the castle now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and sisters will live and be forgiven, and you will join me in the new world we shall build together."

Everyone was led out of the entrance hall, led by Professor McGonagall, who was as frantic as ever. She was the first to see what confirmed Voldemort's speech: Harry Potter was dead, lying limp in Hagrid's arms.

"NO!" she screamed, her hands covering her eyes as if to get rid of what was there in front of her.

Voldemort stood in front of Hagrid, stroking Nagini, whose body was curled around his shoulders.

"No!" Ron screamed, his voice almost weaker than his legs, which were trembling.

"No!" Hermione yelled in defiance. For one in her life, she seemed to lose all of her calm. She wiggled and squirmed in Ron's arms, crying loudly into his shoulder at the same time.

"Harry! HARRY!" Ginny shouted, trying to wake Harry up. But he didn't move. All of the light seemed to drain from her eyes, and she closed them the moment she saw Harry open his eyes a little. She was the only one who saw what no one else had looked for: Harry was alive, his eyes had just looked at her, and it took almost no control on her part to remain quiet. She trusted Harry; he had a plan.

Soon, everyone was screaming and shouting insults at the Death Eaters, at Voldemort himself, and they were all safe because they were together defying him, together they could not be killed.

"SILENCE!" cried Voldemort, and he shot a silencing charm into the crowd that made every mouth stop moving. "It is over! Set him down, Hagrid, at my feet, where he belongs!"

Hagrid moved forward, staring directly into Voldemort's eyes without flinching, his face thick with hatred. He lowered Harry gently onto the grass, and then retreated.

"You see?" said Voldemort, who had begun to pace back and forth, glaring into the eyes of his audience. "Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him!"

"He beat you!" yelled Ron, and the charm broke, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until a second, more powerful Silencing Charm was set on them once more.

"He was killed while trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," said Voldemort, "killed while trying to save himself—"

Neville, whose face had turned bright red from anger, lunged forward away from the crowd and directly into Voldemort himself. Disarmed and thrown to the ground, Neville lay motionless as Bellatrix and Voldemort both broke out laughing.

"And who's this?" he said in a snake hiss. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?"

"It is Neville Longbottom, my Lord!" shouted the delighted Bellatrix. "The boy who has been giving the Carrows so much trouble! The son of the Aurors, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I remember," said Voldemort, looking down at Neville, who was struggling back to his feet, unarmed and unprotected, standing alone between the survivors and the Death Eaters. "But you are a pureblood, aren't you, my brave boy?" Voldemort asked Neville, whose face was red with anger again.

"So what if I am?" yelled Neville.

"You show spirit and bravery, and you come of noble stock. You will make a valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over," said Neville acidly. The crowd cheered, Voldemort's Silencing Charms unable to hold.

"Very well," said Voldemort, whose voice was as cruel as his evil smile. "If that is your choice, Longbottom, we revert to the original plan. On your head," he said quietly, "be it."

Voldemort summoned the Sorting Hat through one of the Hogwarts windows. His smile grew wider, as he put a Full Body-Binding Curse on Neville, and placed the Sorting Hat on his head. The Death Eaters raised there wand, holding the fighters at bay.

"Neville here is going to demonstrate what happens to anyone foolish enough to continue to oppose me," said Voldemort, and with a flick of his wand, the Sorting Hat burst into flames.

There were cries of outrage, and many things happened at once.

The centaurs came rushing out of the forest, shouting loud war cries. The Death Eaters broke ranks, trying to block the falling arrows from the centaurs.

Everyone in the crowd was so caught up in the battle of Death Eaters and Centaurs, that no one, no one but Ginny, had noticed Harry vanish. She smiled, the only one in the crowd who had this whole evening, and watched what no one else was.

What everyone did see, though, was so obvious it was a wonder why Voldemort never managed to see it coming. Everyone watched as Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse, the hat falling off his head as he drew from it's depths the Sword of Gryffindor. The slash of the blade could not be heard over the battle, but that did not stop the whole crowd that was on the field that night from seeing Neville slash the head off of Nagini.

Voldemort screamed in fury, and no one heard him, as the body of the last Horcrux thudded to the ground.

And above all, above the roars from the Death Eaters and survivors alike, above the stampeding heard of centaurs, and above the scream of even Voldemort himself, Hagrid's voice came loudest of all: "HARRY!!! HARRY—WHERE'S HARRY?"

And then everyone joined Ginny in smiling. They knew, finally, that the end was not here: Harry Potter was alive, and the battle was not yet lost.

No. The battle was just beginning.

XX

Ooh!!! I LOVED this chapter!!! I learned a whole ton of stuff about the book I hadn't even realized before! I think I might have even helped some people do the same. I really hope so.

Forgive me for mistakes. I didn't have time to proof read.

Review!